Thread: Watkins Mill Race-to-30 Tournament - Saturday, April 26th @ 7:00am

Originally Posted by stratosverian

19 mph SSE wind for tomorrow! this is going to be interesting

Was it not a 19 mph breeze that ran you off that little lake a week or so ago?

Maybe you better leave all that extra weight in the boat for ballast.

Might throw in an extra anchor and wind socks.

You might not even have to start your motor till you want to come back.

I might try to get up that way later. Depends on the winds.

Good Luck to all tomorrow.

Yeah, Justin...those winds shouldn't be that bad until noonish. Should be easier at 7am and get breezier as the day progresses.

For those of you that are so inclined, there's a bait shop right near the entrance to the park. Stopped in there tonight to find out what time he opens, and picked up a couple dozen. First, he said he doesn't open up until 8am. Second....he charges $3.75/dozen. Third....he counted out...EVERY...SINGLE...Minnow. Wow.

I'm sorry, but it's tough to endorse that sort of thing. Last time I'll buy them there unless I'm really in a pinch. But if that happens, I'll probably just throw jigs or switch lakes!

Looks like I'm going to miss the fun, got a last minute call from work. How long are you all planning on sticking around? I might swing by if its not to late in the day.

Was slow this evening. I hope it gets better fast or it may take all day tomorrow to catch 30.

It was out of the south last time, hopefully today it picks up slow and stays easterly and not so south.

t minus 1:30 min!

Well, I thought it was gonna be over in 45 minutes. The first half hour was incredible for everyone, I think. But they slowed down dramatically as the front started pushing closer and closer and the cloud cover got thicker, and the winds started picking up.

At 9:04a, Twitch and KCTrapper got their 30 fish. Caught a couple extra just in case they pulled a keeferfish and dropped some in the water just before weigh in!

Big fish was to be weighed at 11:00am, so they headed back out right away. Stratosverian and his partner had 28 at that point....just shy. After about another 45 minutes or so, the lightning started and people started coming in. Not sure if anyone else quite made the 30 mark, having switched over to targeting the bigger fish. But when people started coming in, and getting ready to call it quits, Birddog54 had a 14 1/4" fish that went 1.27lbs. KCCrappie had at least two decent sized fish in his bag, and I know some other people caught some nice ones, too. I caught ten and I think one of them *might* have gone 9"?



Did anyone catch any females? Anyone care to share where/how they found success? Jigs or minnows? Did color matter? Were you using nibbles? How deep did you find them? I did my best early with minnows (till I ran out!) about 18" under a bobber. Caught a few more after that on a beetle spin, but...I think everyone was slowing down by that point, so don't know if minnows made the difference? Doesn't sound like it.

Not bad for the first shot at this. Cleaned a few fish out of that lake anyway, before the weather chased us off. Congratulations to all who participated. Congrats especially to Twitch and KCTrapper on the win, and to Birddogs54 for the big fish. I'd like to encourage everyone who lives close by to go get a limit or two out of there when you get a chance. You can catch 30 and maybe 7 or 8 will be worth filleting, so you can get a meal out of it as well. The rest can go to feed the raccoons or the coyotes the garden or something.

FYI if you go up to the campground office they have a map of all the beds!!!

We did get our 30, about 10 min after twitch and KCtrapper got theirs i thought we had our 30 before but we were 2 short!

We found fish every time we found 3ft of water at the bank right next to 5ft or deeper. Was able to catch 18 fish in 20 min when we started but it did get slow as that front moved in. 1/32 roadrunner with carrot tube was the ticket for us. We only ended up with 1 or 2 over 9 and no females.

Overall it WAS fun. Anyone with kids/grandkids get out there you can fish from the bank and pull in fish after fish!

Originally Posted by stratosverian

FYI if you go up to the campground office they have a map of all the beds!!!

We did get our 30, about 10 min after twitch and KCtrapper got theirs i thought we had our 30 before but we were 2 short!

We found fish every time we found 3ft of water at the bank right next to 5ft or deeper. Was able to catch 18 fish in 20 min when we started but it did get slow as that front moved in. 1/32 roadrunner with carrot tube was the ticket for us. We only ended up with 1 or 2 over 9 and no females.

Overall it WAS fun. Anyone with kids/grandkids get out there you can fish from the bank and pull in fish after fish!

OK kid last year I taught you about the 1/32 roadrunner this year we will work on counting!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by got crappie

this year we will work on counting!!!!!!!!

We might have to spend a few years on that one!!!!

So it was the lighting that scared everyone off? Thought Joe told them I was headed up. It looked like a caravan leaving when I pulled in!
Made one cast and caught a 1.28 but Birddog already snuck off with the money.

Nice seeing the few that stuck around. No turkey today but we tried.

My son can't read!